Indonesia today welcomed the swearing-in of East Timor's new prime
minister Xanana Gusmao, who had led a resistance movement against Jakarta
during its 24-year occupation of the tiny nation. Jakarta ruled East Timor
after invading in 1975, but guerrillas waged battle against Indonesian
forces until the East Timorese voted to break away in 1999. The country
formally gained independence in 2002.

We hope that both countries will continue to cooperate and improve
their bilateral relations," he told reporters.

Gusmao was captured by Indonesian forces, accused of subversion and
jailed in 1992. He continued, however, to direct the resistance movement
from behind bars in Jakarta and was freed in 1999, a year after the fall
of dictator Suharto ushered in a new era of democracy for Indonesia, and
just hours after his compatriots voted for independence. Gusmao was voted
in as president of the impoverished nation in 2002. He stepped down
earlier this year after starting a new political party ahead of June's
elections, in which no party won the absolute majority needed to govern.

Gusmao's party formed a coalition in the wake of the polls with the
necessary majority, and East Timor's new president Jose Ramos-Horta
appointed Gusmao to his new job this week.

The move triggered violence from those sympathetic to the former ruling
party, Fretilin, which has labelled the new administration illegal.

Legowo said that Indonesia hoped the new Timorese government could calm
the sporadic unrest which has hit in Dili and several other towns.

What happened there is fully a domestic affair... but we do hope that
the Timorese government can immediately settle the problem," he said.

The period around East Timor's 1999 referendum was marred by an orgy of
violence and destruction that left an estimated 1,400 people dead. It was
blamed largely on militias backed by the Indonesian military.

East Timor's leaders have taken a largely conciliatory stand towards
its more powerful neighbour since independence, arguing it must be
practical and push relations forward. - AFP

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RI, TIMOR LESTE TO MAINTAIN HARMONIOUS COOPERATON: ENVOY

08/10/2007 08:54:35 PM EDT

Antara

Atambua, E Nusa Tenggara, Aug 10 (ANTARA): Indonesian Ambassador to
Timor Leste Ahmad S Bey has said Indonesia would continue to cooperate
with Timor Leste, no matter who is in power in that neighboring country.

"As neighboring countrires, Timor Leste and Indonesia would
continue to cooperate harmoniously, no matter who are in power in these
two countries," the ambassador said on Friday through the phone in
Dili.

He said that Timor Leste's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, President
Ramos Horta and all Timor Leste's state officials all understood the
importance of maintaining good relations of the two neigboring countries.

The Ambassador said that the peoples of the two countries co-existed
and nutually depended, particularly those staying in the border areas of
the two nations.

He said that both sides had tried to build good relations and resolve
their residual problems well.

Bey said that provisions on trade and border arrangements had yet to be
regulated in detail but it would be finished in time later on.

"We will regulate later whether border crossers would use a border
pass. We will discuss its mechanism together," he added.

As an Indonesian representative in Timor Leste, the ambassador welcome
the implementation of democratic elections in that country, saying he
could understand the differences among factions that surfaced in the
former Indonesian province.

"I am convinced they would eventually come to a convergence of
views to solve their differences," he added.